Tourism-dependent Caribbean countries could feel some short-term negative effects if the United States were to lift the 40-year ban on travel to Cuba, said the head of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).
Prof. Norman Girvan said that if the United States allows U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba freely, there could be a temporary shift in tourism from the Caribbean and Central America to the island.
"We can expect that, if and when the travel ban is lifted, many U.S. citizens will want to visit the island - if only out of curiosity since they haven't been allowed in Cuba for 40 years," Girvan said.
"Initially, I would expect a net increase in total traffic and some shifting from other destinations within the Caribbean," he told.
Girvan's comments came in the wake of an increased number of potential agreements between U.S. growers and Cuba.
Caribbean tourism generates $34 billion annually and is fueled mainly by visitors from the eastern United States and Europe.
Since the economic embargo was imposed on Cuba in 1963, most U.S. citizens have not been allowed to visit the island nation.
While most of the 176,000 U.S. citizens who visited Cuba in 2001 did so under one of the exceptions of the travel ban, more than 20,000 U.S. citizens circumvented the restrictions by traveling to Cuba via third countries, the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council said recently. .
The British Government, through its High Commission in Port of Spain, donated £20,000 to the Association of Caribbean States Special Fund to be used for project development in one or more of the Association of Caribbean States, ACS prioirity areas.
The United Kingdom made the donation in its capacity as an Observer country in the ACS.(L-R) British High Commissioner Peter Harborne, ACS Secretary General Professor Norman Girvan:
"This generous gift is a tangible sign of both the goodwill of the United Kingdom towards the Greater Caribbean and of its support for the work of the ACS,"
Professor Norman Girvan, ACS Secretary General, said after receiving the cheque. "We truly appreciate this and other gestures of cooperation from Observer countries."
Following a brief handing over ceremony at ACS headquarters, British High Commissioner to Port of Spain Peter Harborne said, "We lookforward to continuing to work together with the ACS in our shared endeavourof widening and deepening Caribbean integration.
"The donation comes less than one year after the ACS and the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation, also at the ACS headquarters in Port of Spain.
About the ACS
The Association of Caribbean States is an organisation for consultation, cooperation and concerted action in trade, transport, sustainable tourism and natural disasters.
The ACS Member States are Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela.
Its Associate Members are Aruba, France on behalf of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, and the Netherlands Antilles. .
